of childhood autism are very specific. The child feels excessive anxiety which shows itself in the form of catastrophic panic to normal everyday occurrences and, at the same time, an inability to be consoled when he is upset. Inappropriate emotions are also present, including a lack of appropriate peer reactions, as well as excessive anger and rage reactions. Wide mood swings are also present. Autistic children strongly dislike changes in their environment (such as a change in the family's dinner time, or changes in furniture arrangement in the home). Autistic children exhibit odd traits in their motor movements, such as strange postures, hand and finger movements, hand flapping, walking on tiptoes and stomping. They also show strange abnormalities in speech patterns, such as "sing-song" talk, ending declarative statements in a question-like tone, or using a monotonous voice at all times, regardless of circumstances.
Additionally, autistic children demonstrate an increased (or sometimes decreased) sensitivity to external stimuli by others, such as touching, sound, or changes in body posture. Frequently, autistic children exhibit self-mutilating behavior, cutting or burning themselves.
Autistic children essentially take no notice of other people. The language development of these children is unique. Some of them are mute, but from sensory or intellectual deficiencies. Sometimes, the first time they speak, they come up with complete sentences. But they seldom use speech for purposes of ordinary communication. There is a distortion or irregularity of the conception of wholes and parts. Parts of people's bodies become personalized. Sometimes the child will recognize voices, not faces.
The parents of autistic children are, as a rule, intelligent and sophisticated, and successful in their professions. However, most studies show that they are detached, lacking warmth and somewhat mechanical in their relationships. Th...